Philosophical Psychology 16 (1):109-125 (2003)
Abstract |
The phenomenon of religious belief has been much discussed in philosophy of religion. However, a priori argumentation alone cannot establish what religious belief is like as a psychological attitude. Recent advances in the cognitive science of religion have paved the way for a new, naturalized philosophy of religion. Taking into account the relevant results and hypotheses presented within these disciplines, it is possible to develop a more empirically informed philosophy of religious belief. Instead of asking whether believing is rational, it is here asked how religious belief is cognitively possible. Combining Boyer's evolutionary account of religion with Sperber's and Cosmides and Tooby's theory of metarepresentation, we get the sort of conceptual toolkit needed to specify those cognitive mechanisms and operations that make religious belief possible. Religious belief is shown to require a unique combination of these mechanisms and operations
|
Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.1080/0951508032000067716 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
Exploring the Natural Foundations of Religion.Justin L. Barrett - 2000 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4 (1):29-34.
View all 14 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
In Defense of Naturalism.Gregory W. Dawes - 2011 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 70 (1):3-25.
Religious Authority and the Transmission of Abstract God Concepts.Nathan Cofnas - 2018 - Philosophical Psychology 31 (4):609-628.
What is Counterintuitive? Religious Cognition and Natural Expectation.Yvan I. Russell & Fernand Gobet - 2013 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 4 (4):715-749.
Are There Psychological Species?Joshua Fost - 2015 - Review of Philosophy and Psychology 6 (2):293-315.
View all 8 citations / Add more citations
Similar books and articles
Does Cognitive Science Show Belief in God to Be Irrational? The Epistemic Consequences of the Cognitive Science of Religion.Joshua C. Thurow - 2013 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 74 (1):77-98.
Four Arguments That the Cognitive Psychology of Religion Undermines the Justification of Religious Belief.Michael J. Murray - 2008
On Christian Belief: A Defence of a Cognitive Conception of Religious Belief in a Christian Context.Andrew Collier - 2003 - Routledge.
Are Evolutionary/Cognitive Theories of Religion Relevant for Philosophy of Religion?Gregory R. Peterson - 2010 - Zygon 45 (3):545-557.
Understanding Hume's Natural History of Religion.P. J. E. Kail - 2007 - Philosophical Quarterly 57 (227):190–211.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2009-01-28
Total views
247 ( #44,542 of 2,504,870 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
2 ( #277,627 of 2,504,870 )
2009-01-28
Total views
247 ( #44,542 of 2,504,870 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
2 ( #277,627 of 2,504,870 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads